I'm not too much of a CNN follower, nor am I really up on the news very much in general. That has changed drastically over the last week and a half. Due to events recently surrounding Libya and at our sister school in Tunis, as well as everything happening in Syria right now, the news has become a new hobby for me. The feeling towards American's in the region is overshadowed by these events. It is scary to think that people would take such extreme actions due to such feelings of hate. Everything in the UAE is still fine. It is almost like a bubble in the Middle East. The American Embassy and the Canadian Embassy (both Ambassadors are parents at ASD), have assured us that the level of security has increased, but that the best thing for us to do as a school and as a community is to continue to be respectful while in public towards our host country.
The devastation caused at our sister school in Tunis (tunisia), is heartbreaking. The fact that people would destroy an educational facility is disturbing and causes me to lose a little faith in the human race. Our Superintendant read us that story at our all faculty assembly yesterday. Many of my colleagues have friends in the international community that teach at that school. We were stunned into silence. Please read the above articles.
Onto some much lighter stories in the world of Megan! I have successfully made it through the third week of teaching without too many headaches. We had Back to School night where I made a short ten minute presentation to the parents for each of my five blocks of students. I felt great about the whole evening in general. The most entertaining part of the evening for me was seeing the outfits on the parents. Hellooooo MONEY! It was Housewives of Dubai at it's finest. It was fun to just try to do some mental math about how much an outfit cost. I tried not to drool over the diamonds that many of these women were wearing as well. Absolutely stunning. But, for the most part, it was so great to look out on the parents and see both mother and father there and have them be so enthused about the school year. The atmosphere at the school has done a 180 with the new administration. Teachers and Parents are all just so jazzed up about the school. One parent emailed our Super after her Middle School Back to School night (I have her daughter). She said that this was supposed to be their last year in Dubai, but that ASD and it's rejuvenated teaching staff and administration is making that a very hard decision. That is so cool to hear.
I also decided that the Yaris was not going to cut it anymore, and was able to secure a dealership lease for a car. I now officially have a Honda Civic. It is a nice new car and fun little whip to drive. The only downside to this is that I can't drive it in the desert and I can't drive onto the beach. I will just have to find someone who does have that Jeep Wrangler that I so wanted and convince them to let me borrow it. When it cools down a little more, a desert camping trip is in the works! I'm so excited for that...
I also am trying to figure out where I am going for Eid break, which is at the end of October. It is only a couple of days long, similar to the MEA break in Minnesota. I was researching, along with a few of my friends, someplace we could go that will have the fall colors, and that is within a few hour plane jaunt from here. Armenian mountains and Istanbul (Turkey) are up there on the list. Jordan is also another idea that has been tossed around, and I have wanted to visit Petra for a while. We will see. The airline Fly Dubai is super cheap (similar to Ryan Air in Europe), and goes pretty much anywhere in a 8 hour radiai.
That seems enough for now.
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